How far in does the circlip goes on a rear caliper handbrake mechanism

[Stamanatic]

See attached photos, unsure how far down the circlip is meant to go here, I have tried everything to squeeze it with the circlip pliers to below where it is but I don't think it is meant to?

[Stamanatic]

By turning my circlip pliers the other way round I was able to get the clip in seated with what looks correct to me.

[LC5F]

Looks very nearly there - Try pushing each side down with a flat blade screwdriver to get the last bits to seat

[Stamanatic]

Looks very nearly there - Try pushing each side down with a flat blade screwdriver to get the last bits to seat

I give up, I pushed it in a few times as hard as I could, it actually pops out when I really pump the handbrake mechanism hard a few times, but even prior to that when pumping the handbrake mechanism the piston goes up and when you let go it just goes back to the same position, it doesn't progress up the cork screw thread, the boot actually just seems to fill with air as I press and depress the mechanism. Really strange, everything seems fine, even though using a rewind tools, it winds and unwinds perfectly.

[LC5F]

Have you installed new seal on the shaft? - try pushing the shaft into the caliper body to squish down the seal to allow the circlip to seat in the groove.

Yes - if the piston is fully wound into the caliper body it will sit there spinning, very hard to get it started, best to get it winding out by hand just enough to get over the pads -should work after that.

[Stamanatic]

Yeah the new o-ring is installed inside the caliper on the bottom opening where the mechanism pushing through, so the circlip looks seated as you see above in the image, saw no air gap between the 3 flanges and the circlip.

So those 2 grooves I can see when I don't have the mechanism installed, is the top one meant for the circlip? At the moment those grooves aren't accessible with the mechanism in there, I can see the 3 flanges are seated just on the top groove making it inaccessible, which made me think the top groove was also related to those 3 flanges and not the circlip. I honestly pushed fairly hard it really felt like the mechanism bottomed out, you can see below how much of it sticks out then outside, reads 15mm, has it room to go in another 5mm?

[LC5F]

Hey fella - pictures are not showing

[Stamanatic]

Hey fella - pictures are not showing

Sorry try again

[LC5F]

No worries - You have fitted the O-ring correctly, it is internal, there is a recess it sits in.
It only seals around the shaft and should not be interfering with getting the circlip in place.

I dug my calipers out that are stripped down, they have patiently been waiting to be rebuilt for some time - hopefully the picture and description will help you:

Red Arrow is pointing at a beefy looking spring that is pushing the silver top hat cover towards the pads.
The 2 red lines are where there is a small gap at the bottom - this shows the spring can be compressed, pushing the cover down to allow the circlip to fit.
You need to get a socket deep enough to go over the shaft and just big enough to cover the silver top hat cover, but still allow circlip pliers in - plus another socket for the other side too
In a vice, with sockets in place push down in the green arrow direction and it should give you the clearance to fit the circlip.

[Stamanatic]

O-ring is fitted inside the caliper as you say, I don't put it onto the mechanism or anything like that.

Okay thanks that picture does really help, so basically I need to compress it to get it just below the groove, otherwise the top flange will always be above groove, this all makes sense now, good to know, thanks very much!!

I didn't know this, I was pushing as hard as I could thinking it was stuck on the o-ring and might go down further.

Thanks for the illustration! :D